Ed and Rob on the UC study and the long overdue Collisions Report

Subject: That UC StudyEd:Okay, but an important implication of that study is not just about "bicycling safety." If the city has been under-counting cycling accidents, the concern is that it is also under-counting pedestrian and motor vehicle accidents.Regards,Rob AndersonFrom: Reiskin, Ed Ed.Reiskin@sfmta.comTo: Rob Anderson rmajora@gmail.comDate: Wed, Mar 12 2014Subject: That UC StudyHi Rob:Thanks for your message. We are in discussions with the Department of Public Health about these data, and I believe they are hiring a position to look into the data further. Our collision report for 2012-13 will continue to be based on the collisions that get reported, but we will work with DPH and others to get more accurate data. The purpose of our reports are to analyze what is happening to inform efforts to make the city safer. We share your interest in having good data upon which to do so.Thanks for your interest in bicycling safety.EdFrom: Rob Anderson rmajora@gmail.comSent: Thursday, March 06, 2014To: Reiskin, EdSubject: That UC StudyMr. Reiskin:When is the MTA going to comment on that UC study that found that the city was radically under-counting cycling accidents in San Francisco?Can the citizens of San Francisco be confident that, in light of the findings of that study, the agency you lead has reformed the way it counts accidents on the streets of the city?Can we also assume that the long-overdue Collisions Report will reflect the reality revealed by the UC study?Regards,Rob Anderson

Islamophobe suspected of sabotaging flight MH370...Oh, wait...

From the Malay Daily Mail [Later: Apparently this guy also has had "flight simulation training"]:...Malaysian police and Interpol are combing through the personal backgrounds of passengers and crew of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, and have confirmed they are taking a close look at a 35-year-old passenger of Uighur descent.Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Hadi Ho Abdullah confirmed this in a report in the Malay language daily Harian Metro today.“We will conduct further investigations into this matter,” he said, without divulging further details.It is understood that the police have also searched the family homes of crew members including the pilot and co-pilot of the flight, as terrorism and sabotage has not been ruled out as a reason behind the disappearance of the airliner.An unnamed source had told the daily that Malaysian police and Interpol are focusing their attention on this man because of the skills he possessed.“We are not saying that he is involved in terrorism, suspected of sabotaging or hijacking the plane, it’s just that more attention is on him because of his background and we feel that there are important elements that have to be looked at,” the source was quoted as saying.The Uighurs are a Turkic ethnic group primarily living in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in China.It was reported that the group that killed at least 29 people and wounding 143 with long knives and daggers, in the Kunming railway station on March 1, were allegedly Muslim separatist militants from the western region of Xinjiang, suspected to be of Uighur descent.According to the man’s curriculum vitae found online, he is a PhD holder and is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, at a Turkish university.